DISCOVERY IN DOCTOR’S HOUSE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2468, 17 August 1922, Page 4

DISCOVERY IN DOCTOR’S HOUSE.

DEATH OF FOUR PERSONS. MELBOURNE, Aug. 14. One of the most shocking tragedies in the history of Melbourne, resulting in four deaths, was discovered at the residence of Dr Cranstoun, at Hampton. A patient who went to consult the doctor failed to obtain a a reply to his ring at the doorbell, and hearing the telephone ringing inside, he became suspicious that something was wrong. He peered through the letter slit in the door and saw a man lying in the passage. Assistance was obtained and an entry forced. It was then found that the man lying in the passage was the doctor, dressed in his pyjamas and unconscious, he having apparently emerged from the bathroom and collapsed. A search of the house resulted in finding the dead bodies of the doctor’s sons —John, aged fifteen years; Robert, aged ten; and Colin, aged eight, and a young woman, Gladys Baylis, while Mrs Cranstoun and the doctor’s two other young children, Margaret, aged thirteen, and Bella, aged six, were found unconscious. The doctor, his wife and the two girls were removed to the hospital and are expected to recover. At present nothing is known of the circumstances that led up to tragedy, but in all cases it is believed the victims were subjected to morphia injections. When found, the doctor had a hypodermic syringe lying beside him. The body of John was found lying on the hearthrug in the drawingroom. Robert and Colin were in separate beds upstairs, and Miss Baylis, who had acted,as companion to Mrs Cranstoun, was on a bed downstairs. The two girls and the mother were also in bed. —Press Association.